While on a press tour to promote “Bad Boys For Life,” Will Smith and Martin Lawrence stopped by the “Breakfast Club” where the Philly rapper surprisingly addressed his insecurities surrounding the friendship his wife Jada Pinkett Smith shared with the late rapper Tupac.
The bond and deep love between Smith and Tupac has long lead fans to speculate that what they had was more than platonic, though Smith has been adamant in expressing that never was the case.
“Oh, yeah. Oh my God and that was in the early days,” said Smith when Charlamagne the God asked if he was jealous of the friendship. “She just loved him and that was the image of perfection.”
He went on to say, “I was deeply, deeply insecure and just, I wasn’t man enough to handle that relationship.”
Because of that insecurity Smith added that he was never able to connect with his fellow rapper; instead there was always an underlying tension between the two.
Fans supported 51-year-old Smith’s honesty, with some men even echoing that they too had experienced insecurity due to their own ego.
“Most of us got too much ego to admit if we were jealous of any other guy.”
“To love in your truth is liberation”
“Who wouldn’t be jealous it’s 2pac”
“Can’t be more real than that …”
During an episode of “Red Table Talk“ Smith said that what she and Pac shared was complex though it was never more than a friendship deeply rooted in love.
“We were an anchor for each other,” said the 48-year-old of their relationship. The two met as teens in Baltimore, Md., while attending Baltimore School for the Arts. As both Pac and Smith catapulted to stardom they maintained their friendship as best they could until the rapper’s untimely death in 1996.
The Smiths, who have been together for more than two decades, wed the following year. They share two children together, Jaden and Willow Smith. They also share Smith’s son Trey from his previous marriage to Sheree Zampino.
Smith and Lawrence’s current offering in the “Bad Boys” series hits theaters January 17.
